Town working to sell quarry land to county

The former quarry across from Saukville Town Hall on Lakeland Road could become home to Ozaukee County’s only county-owned lake accessible for fishing and duck hunting, Town Chairman Kevin Kimmes said last week.

Kimmes said he’s working to sell the 80-acre quarry property to the county for use as parkland.

Both the town and the county have received numerous calls from residents asking if they can fish or hunt on the man-made lake since it was shut down by Payne and Dolan in the early 2000s, Kimmes said.

“There’s a lot of interest in the land as a recreational resource,” Ozaukee County Director of Planning and Parks Andrew Struck agreed.

The first step would be acquisition of the full 80 acres by the town.

The town owns the southern 40 acres that are home to the lake while the northern 40 acres, which include the filled quarry, is owned by Payne and Dolan.

The company pays about $4,500 a year in property taxes, of which the town gets about $700, Kimmes said.

As part of its decommissioning agreement, Payne and Dolan agreed to donate both of the lots to the town. The transfer of the northern lot will happen soon, Kimmes said.

He proposed selling the properties to Ozaukee County in exchange for work on town roads, noting road work is the town’s “biggest need.”

Having the county complete road projects would not only save the town the hassle of budgeting, planning and engineering the work but also tap into the county’s expertise, Kimmes said.

“The amount of paving they do each year is substantial,” he said.

The county’s asphalt quarry is on 200- acres it owns adjacent to the Payne and Dolan land, so it’s ideally located to complete projects in the Town of Saukville.

Struck said paying for the land through road work would be more palatable than paying cash.

But the amount the county pays for the land could become a point of contention.

There are two ways to look at the value of the properties, Kimmes said.

One view would be that the northern lot, which is undeveloped and valued at $335,000, would add value to the asking price, while the southern lot would be basically worthless, because an easement on the land prohibits development.

From a different perspective, the properties could be worth as much as $3 million, Kimmes said.

Theoretically, the town could rezone and divide the northern property into six residential lots and transfer the quarry to a homeowners association, Kimmes said. He said each of the five-acre lots with access to a private lake could sell for about $500,000.

However, Kimmes said, he doesn’t think it’s reasonable to charge the county $3 million. He’s recommending selling the land for a price that’s closer to $1 million.

The town has the advantage in negotiations, Kimmes said.

Between Tendick Nature Park, the Cedarburg Bog State Natural Area and other private and public parks, the town has two acres of open space per town resident, he said.

“I don’t hear from residents, ‘Hey, let’s donate the land for a county park,’” Kimmes said. “But I would hear, ‘Oh, are we losing out here?’”

The Town Board hopes to work with the county to turn the land into a park for all county residents, Kimmes said, but the town is first in mind.

“We know there’s an idea of a bigger use that could have a big benefit past the town’s residents, and we are in support of that — if we are making a good fiscal decision,” he said.

A family that owns land north of the Payne and Dolan property is working with the town to purchase a 10-acre strip, Kimmes said.

An agreement reached more than a decade ago between the town and county —which Kimmes believes is no longer binding or relevant — restricted the town from selling the southern lot to a buyer other than the county.